I Hope So…

She opened the front door with a shiny key never once used. The smells of new carpet, new paint, Pine Sol and Windex all mixed together in the air like they were meant to be. Her steps echoed as she walked through the foyer on neutral colored glowing tile. All around her were clean, smooth walls, some with windows showing the tops of baby bushes outside. Sunshine streamed ever so quietly throughout the kitchen, warming it with a golden hue of promises of things yet to be prepared. She stood very still in the kitchen looking around.

The front door was open and he walked through it looking for her. She stood still. He walked through the same foyer with much longer strides, ignoring the new smell in his search for his wife. He headed towards the kitchen.

“Blair?” he called out to her. Slowly, deliberately she turned around as his excitement about sharing this ‘first time home buyers” moment with her welled up inside of him. On her face he saw a softened scowl, pursed lips and eyebrows dented as if in deep thought. “Mike”, she said softly, “I hope they build a house on this spot someday, it’s a perfect spot for one”.

W H A T?

If I had one of those turntables I would take the needle across the LP and make one of those scratching noises right now! That comment makes no common sense right? I mean the woman just walked through what was obviously her brand new home; she had a key, and is standing in the kitchen! And she says she hopes they build a house here? She’s loony, or she’s blind or she’s delusional, irrational or just plain stupid right? Really? And what about some of us? Irrational? Delusional? Loony?

If you know Christ as your personal Savior, then you had a moment in your life that you were handed an unused key. I know I certainly did. I used that key for the first time to unlock and open the door to a brand new home, built specifically for me. As I stepped over the threshold of my salvation, it was new, clean, unused with that “new salvation” smell to it. I looked around in amazement at the wonder of it all.

So, could you please answer a question for me? Why in the world would anyone having truly had that experience, HOPE to go to heaven? Why, after moving all of our good stuff in to our new home at 101 Salvation Road, would you or I or anyone for that matter, wonder where we are going to live after this? If my stuff is arranged, decorated, put together and settled in this spiritual home built specifically for me, then why would I doubt my spiritual address?

Is it because I wasn’t dwelling inside of it? Was it because I was out in the back yard sitting on top of a pile of manure that was supposed to be used to grow new things? Was it because I was over at the fence, preoccupied with looking at the neighbor’s house, worried about how and what they were doing over there? Was it because not being inside was way more fun for a minute? Was it because I spent considerable time out front directing traffic on this cul-de-sac because someone had to keep order around here?

Yes. For me it was all those and many more; self centeredness and the fear of what others thought. Denial. Shame. Guilt. Grief. Hate. Pride. Insecurity. And an obsession to be anything, anyone, other than the one He made me to be. Anyone, anything, so I didn’t have to look Him in the eye as He sat in the chair across my living room.

When I finally stopped and took a look, I saw that my home, the one built specifically for me at 101 Salvation Road, was still there and was still perfect for me. I just had to choose to walk back in the door and enjoy it!

I didn’t have to “hope” to have a home. I didn’t have to wish it into existence. I surely could not have built it all by myself and I cannot simply walk into and take over somebody else’s.

So, after being away from it for over a decade, after messing up repeatedly, and after realizing I wasn’t at all where I should have been…I chose to walk back up my sidewalk to my front door. I walked back into my safe solid protection. I reveled in the amazing fragrance of grace mixed with love and forgiveness as it embraced my every emotion. I listened to the peace that was all but lost while I was out directing all that traffic.

And the messes I got into, and the dirt on my clothes through the choices I made while I was gone? Well, they couldn’t keep me from going back inside either! I didn’t even have to get cleaned up before I found myself standing in the warmth of the son-light shinning into the kitchen window as I took a long cool drink of living water. I can now sit at the seat of comfort and rest because I’m home.

It’s still there you know, YOUR home. When you asked God to build it for you, He wasn’t kidding when He said yes! In fact, He took your request so seriously that he sent His own carpenter son to build it for you personally. His son didn’t supervise the building crew, he is the building crew. His son even willingly died on the job site as he put the anchor into your foundation so that your home would forever be secure.

So, what do you say? Want to take the steps back down Salvation Road? It’s still perfectly paved, totally safe and hasn’t seen a bit of deterioration since you have been away. Don’t worry about where your key is either; your front door is unlocked for you. Will you go home where you belong? I hope you do. And if so, be sure I will peak over my backyard fence again. But this time it will be to tell you welcome home!